Diego Maradona’s £75 million fortune has been plundered and his children have been left to fight over less than £5 million, a lawyer has claimed.
The football star is said to be worth far more than the £5 million he had when he died, with a family lawyer claiming ‘hangers-on’ could have stolen some of the fortune.
The Argentinian footballer told friends before he died in November last year that he had around £75 million, it is claimed.
Diego Maradona’s £75 million fortune has been plundered and his children left to fight over less than £5 million, lawyers have claimed. Maradona’s death came just three weeks after he underwent surgery on a blood clot in his brain (pictured), and less than a month after he turned 60
Last night the lawyer acting for Maradona’s youngest son Diego Fernando, seven, admitted ‘hangers-on’ could have pilfered the former footballer’s fortune as he laid bare Maradona’s financial situation.
Mario Baudry, said: ‘There’s been talk of £75 million but only just over £4 million has appeared in bank accounts along with a small apartment, an old house Diego owned and two cars.
‘Diego earned a lot of money but the problem is he didn’t have it.
‘The expense reports haven’t appeared so we don’t know if he spent it or if others spent it or whether it’s somewhere we don’t know yet.’
Last night the lawyer acting for Maradona’s youngest son Diego Fernando (pictured in 2017 with his father), seven, admitted ‘hangers-on’ could have pilfered the former footballer’s fortune as he laid bare Maradona’s financial situation
Baudry also claimed a fingerprint home safe Maradona kept at the house he lived in before his hospital brain operation had been tampered with.
He added: ‘Diego thought only he could open it but anyone who touched it could.
‘We’re just about to open a security deposit box at a bank that was in Diego’s name but when we go we’ll probably discover Maradona never went there.
‘As Diego gave people power of attorney, they opened accounts and worked in his name.
‘In Dubai he had designer watches that came with a card and a serial number. We’ve got 14 cards but no watches. Someone took them.’
Maradona was one of the most gifted sportsmen of all time, lifting the World Cup in 1986
Baudry, now dating Diego Fernando’s mum and Maradona’s former long-term girlfriend Veronica Ojeda, made his astonishing claims in Argentinian TV interviews.
He insisted he was not pointing the finger at anyone in particular and insisted: ‘If he earned the millions he did, where has it gone?
‘If Diego spent it, and hopefully that’s the case, there’s no problem.
‘His heirs will rest easy if they’re shown that happened. But at the moment there is no paperwork to prove it.’
Claiming his relationship with Maradona was a cordial one despite his relationship with Ojeda, he added: ‘Diego told me in a WhatsApp audio before he died how many money he had but it was a private message and I can’t prove what he said.
‘Diego’s lawyer Matias Morla has said his children were going to inherit fortunes, that there were hotels, a pasta factory and other businesses in Cuba and Venezuela but we’ve seen nothing so far to back that up.’
Maradona shared son Diego Fernando with his former long-term girlfriend, Veronica Ojeda, pictured together in 2010
Diego lived in Dubai with another ex-girlfriend Rocio Oliva, who was banned from a family wake and Maradona’s funeral following his death on November 25 from heart failure.
Last month Oliva was accused of using the football star’s credit cards after he died during an ugly war of words with Ojeda.
Oliva, whose turbulent seven-year relationship with Maradona hit rock-bottom when he alleged she had stolen hundreds of pounds of valuables from his Dubai mansion, rubbished the claims.
Rocio Oliva and Diego Maradona attended the draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on December 01, 2017
She was detained on an international arrest warrant after flying back to Argentina from the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, but Maradona subsequently withdraw his complaint after they patched things up.
Forged Diego Maradona signatures were found during a recent search of his doctor Leopoldo Luque’s home by prosecutors investigating whether the star’s death is linked to medical negligence.
The former Barcelona and Naples player had five children he recognised as his by four different women.
Three other Argentinians – including teenager Santiago Lara who demanded the exhumation of Maradona’s body days after he died – say he was their dad and have launched paternity suits.
A lifelong friend of Maradona’s, Mariano Israelit, claimed recently: ‘When Diego returned from Mexico in 2019 he told me he had more than 100 million dollars.
‘I’d love it if his children were the ones who inherited it but I don’t know where that money is now.’